Czech-born author, journalist and Radio Free Europe broadcaster Milan
Schulz died in Munich on Monday at the age of 83. He emigrated in 1969 but
the link to his homeland remained firm and for hundreds of thousands of his
compatriots behind the Iron Curtain his daily commentaries on RFE were a
breath of fresh air in the constrained atmosphere of communist rule. I
asked his former colleague broadcaster Petr Brod to share his memories of
those days.

Milan Schulz, photo: CTK
“His commentaries were pithy, if that is the right word, they were very
spare in terms of propaganda I would say, that is - they did not try to
promote Western values in any manner that would overwhelm the listener, he
always started from their daily experience and often took issue with
individual Czech or Slovak politicians.”

And he could be highly sarcastic when he chose to be so, right?

“He was indeed and I think that his most lasting contribution to both
political analyses and humor in Czech society was the way he analyzed and
used a secret recording of a speech made by the then- general secretary of
the communist party of Czechoslovakia, Milos Jakeš, which was delivered to
party members in the summer of 1989, which was already, let’s say, in the
closing days of the communist regime. In his speech, Jakeš, then the
country’s number one, complained bitterly about how he felt isolated
because nobody within the party felt the need to strengthen his position
and to fight for socialism in the way he thought was right. So it was a
very melancholic speech one could say in many ways and also in its own way
a very comic one. The recording of this speech was smuggled to the West and
eventually reached our editorial office and there Milan Schulz –in a
famous broadcast – dissected it and analyzed it and answered some of the
complaints of the secretary general directly in a way that made the whole
of Czechoslovakia roar at the time.”

Can you remember how he experienced the fall of communism?

“Well, like all of us, he was in a way surprised but also relieved
because we were watching the downfall of various communist regimes from
Munich and we saw the regime fall in Poland and then Hungary and we kept
asking ourselves when will Czechoslovakia follow. We couldn’t believe
that the surrounding countries were becoming democratic and Czechoslovakia
was still stuck – in the autumn of 1989 – in its post-Stalinist regime.
And then, when the change came with the demonstration of students on
November 17, 1989 we were both surprised that the change came relatively
fast and at the same time relieved that now Czechoslovakia was marching
with the other countries of Eastern Europe towards democracy at the same
speed, so to speak.”